David Lennon: With Norwegian Vikings in the crowd at Citi Field, Mets' ship keeps on sinking
Mr. and Mrs. Met sit among Norwegian soccer fans who attended the first game of a split doubleheader between the Mets and the Chicago Cubs at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
By the shore of Flushing Bay, with hundreds of Norwegian soccer fans in the building, it felt like a viking funeral for the Mets’ season Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field.
No flaming boats, but Nolan McLean -- the one starter the Mets could pin their fading hopes to -- was set ablaze by the Cubs, who pounded him for six runs over his final two innings, including a pair of homers. Demoralizing losses have been as much a part of the Queens landscape as the Unisphere and 7 train. But the Mets getting smacked in Game 1 of Wednesday’s split doubleheader felt especially soul-crushing, given who was on the mound, how they kicked away an early 3-0 lead and where it left this sinking team standings-wise.
The Mets lost their fourth straight (outscored, 40-14, during that stretch) to match the season low-water mark of 11 games under .500 (34-45), a depressing place they hadn’t been since May 26. That also dropped them to eight games behind the Cubs for the third wild-card spot, which technically may not be insurmountable on June 24, but certainly gives off that vibe for anyone who has watched the Mets’ futility on a regular basis. It definitely dampened the excitement surrounding Francisco Lindor’s return in Game 2 after missing nearly two months with a left calf strain.
“It’s tough -- I’m not gonna lie,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Obviously, there’s frustrations for all of us in here ... I think the last thing we want is to sit here and start feeling sorry for ourselves.
On Wednesday, hours before the opener’s first pitch, the Mets bounced Kodai Senga from a desperate rotation that can’t scrape together five serviceable pitchers on a week-to-week basis. In other words, the best way Senga could help the rotation was by not being in it.
Not only that, manager Mendoza raised the possibility Wednesday morning that Juan Soto could end up on the injured list after leaving Tuesday night’s game with what the team described as “back tightness.” Soto was unavailable for Game 1 and not in the starting lineup for Game 2, but Mendoza said he still was being evaluated (Soto was not in the clubhouse during Wednesday’s media access).
Soto already missed 15 games in April due to a right calf strain, but returned to become the Mets’ offensive leader, hitting .299 with 17 homers and a .965 OPS. The timing of his back injury is uncanny -- it happened on the eve of Lindor’s comeback from his own calf strain, albeit a much more severe grade. When Soto was activated in April, Lindor suffered his injury that same night, and the Mets’ two mega-stars, whose contracts are worth a combined $1.1 billion, have appeared in only nine games together this season.
Having Soto and Lindor alternate IL stints has helped torpedo a Mets’ offense that’s been stalled by a variety of factors -- ranging from Bo Bichette’s slow start to the debilitating injuries that transformed Jorge Polanco (Achilles bursitis) and Luis Robert Jr. (disc herniation) into a pair of $20 million spectators for most of this season.
The Mets have anxiously awaited Lindor’s return, but it could be a case of too little, too late. Lindor was hardly his All-Star self at the time of the injury, hitting .226 (21-for-93) with a measly five RBIs and a .669 OPS in 24 games. The thought of him instantly reviving an offense that ranked among the worst in baseball -- 29th in OPS (.670), 21st in runs per game (4.05) -- and is now without Soto seems like too big of an ask.
The Mets didn’t activate Lindor for Wednesday’s Game 1 because he got back to New York too late from the previous night’s rehab game at Triple-A Syracuse. Lindor batted leadoff in 19 of his 24 games this season, but he was in the No. 2 spot behind Carson Benge Wednesday night. Going forward, Mendoza said they would take it slow with Lindor, mixing in more frequent off days early on as he ramps back up, but the manager disagreed with the premise that the Mets are past the point of the five-time All-Star being able to help rescue them.
“It’s not too late, but it’s not too early,” Mendoza said. “Here’s where we are. Not playing well, our record’s our record. It’s good that we have Lindor back now, but we can’t put it all on him.”
McLean denied that the weight of the spiraling Mets was strapped to his shoulders in Wednesday’s Game 1, but he ultimately fell victim to the same mistakes that routinely sabotage the team as a whole. Jared Young and Francisco Alvarez belted back-to-back homers in the fourth inning to give McLean a 3-0 lead, but he gave it all back in the fifth when a pair of two-out hits set up Michael Busch’s three-run homer.
To see McLean stumble so badly after cruising along had to be jarring for the Mets, and it got worse in the sixth, when he teed up a middle-middle fastball to Dansby Swanson, who launched another three-run homer, again with two outs. The partying Norwegians were oblivious in the centerfield bleachers, dancing and chanting the whole time, but McLean’s sudden mortality -- he’s allowed six or more runs in three of his last seven starts -- seemed like a white towel for a wobbly team on the ropes.
“The season’s definitely testing our mental fortitude for sure,” McLean said.
And it’s a season that’s rapidly slipping away, if not gone already.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
